The great fitness band shootout

The Jawbone Up, Fitbit Flex, and Nike Fuelband—which is best?

There’s nothing like an obesity epidemic to remind people that many of us have totally lost touch with what our bodies are doing all day. The disconnect between our conception of fitness and what we're doing to achieve it has grown faster than we can comprehend. We are in a fitness hole, trying to count our way out in calories, steps, pounds, heartbeats per minute, and hours of sleep per night.

The reason fitness devices have enjoyed such popularity is that they automate this tracking. And what they can’t automate, they make fairly easy to log. There's no obvious answer to our sedentary, overeating culture, but fitness bands offer a way toward a little more mindfulness about the ruts we may have fallen into over the course of our daily lives.

But given how trendy fitness dongles, bands, and apps have become, there’s a glut of them out there to sort through. Today we'll take a look at three of the most popular fitness bands: the Jawbone Up ($130), the Fitbit Flex ($100), and the Nike Fuelband ($149). Different interfaces will work for different people, so even if you don’t agree with our pick for the best device, we'll provide enough information to help you make an informed decision. We chose to stick to fitness bands, because they are the most recent evolution of the format. More (and perhaps more discreet) peripherals like the regular Fitbit are still available.

Before we get to the evaluation, a little about my fitness profile: I’m a pretty active person, and the foundation of my routine is running. I average 15-20 miles per week and do some free-weight-type workouts twice a week. I also get in one or two cycling trips per week, generally between five and 10 miles. I would not personally buy a fitness band for motivation purposes, but I might get one out of curiosity to plumb the depths of my own sedentary office life.

Look and feel

The Fuelband is the chunkiest of the three, and it looks most distinctly like a futuristic prison cuff. It includes a small LED display and button that allow you to see the “fuel” accrued for the day, as well as calories, steps, and active time. It goes on and off the wrist by an interlocking clasp where the USB interface is concealed.

The Jawbone Up is a bendy wrap bracelet that you distort to clasp onto your wrist. It has no display, but on one end there is a button that allows you to put the band into various modes (press and hold to toggle between sleep and waking mode, press twice and then hold to log an activity, and so on). The other, disconnected end of the bracelet has a 3.5 mm jack concealed by a cap that must be plugged into a device running Android or iOS to sync the activity log to an app.

The Fitbit Flex closes around your wrist like one of those paper bracelets you get when you enter a fairground or particularly suspicious nightclub. But it's obviously removable, with a set of prongs that snap into a set of holes. The only display is a set of five LEDs that represent your step progress for the day (more LEDs equal more steps) that light up when you pet the device’s face twice. Encased in the rubber bracelet is a small device about the size of an earplug that can be removed to charge it via a USB adapter. The device will also vibrate when you hit your step goal for the day.

Playing with fitness bands.

All of the devices are comfortable and not any more noticeable than a regular bracelet. I have a pretty small wrist, but the small size of both the Fitbit and Jawbone Up fit snugly.

The small size of the Fuelband, however, jiggles around on the smallest part of my wrist. The Fuelband is the least adjustable of the three (Fitbit Flex has a series of notches, and the Jawbone Up deforms to accommodate larger wrists), so it may not be the best choice for those who don’t want to risk feeling an accessory wobbling around their wrist all day. Despite the looseness, the function of the Fuelband doesn’t seem to be affected, and I didn’t experience any extraneous step-logging.

After having used the Fuelband for several weeks, I’ve developed a Pavlovian fear of its clasp. On more than one occasion, I caught my tender wrist skin while trying to snap it closed. Once I even drew blood. I fight this battle with the Fuelband every time I take a shower—Nike states that the Fuelband is fine with shower-level water exposure, but I’m wary of risking a $149 device in a daily water onslaught—so I suffer.

The design of the Fitbit Flex has its own problem. There is no delicate way to put this, nor a way that does not immediately implicate me as a slovenly human being, so I’ll start by saying that I swear I’m clean. I do work out regularly and sweat, but I also take showers regularly. That all said, the construction of the Fitbit Flex lends itself to odor.

I’ve noticed on multiple occasions that when I remove the dongle that fits inside the rubbery band part of the Fitbit Flex, the dongle cavity will have a repulsive smell, presumably from having played host for a few days to a smorgasbord of whatever invisible scented particles it has grafted from the surface of my wrist, with a little sweat mixed in for good measure.

The time it takes the Fitbit Flex to charge again is usually long enough to air out the cavity so that the smell goes away. A quick swipe with a paper towel also helps. There’s not a ton to be done about this problem, save giving your Fitbit Flex a daily or semi-daily internal polish. The smell isn’t so strong that passersby will be giving you dirty looks. If it’s on my wrist, I can barely smell it with my nose pressed up against it. It’s not a huge cause for concern, just kind of gross and not a problem that the other two fitness bands share.

Each device syncs a different way, and each way is probably slightly more aggravating when trying to use them all together rather than one at a time. The Fuelband uses Bluetooth to sync with a smartphone app (iOS-exclusive, at the moment), which requires that you either tax your battery a bit to be able to sync at a whim or turn Bluetooth on and off every time you want to log your activity.

Since you can dip in to see how you’re doing just by checking the Fuelband’s wristband display, actual syncs are a little less tempting than with the Jawbone UP or Fitbit Flex. But the Fuelband app provides you with updates on goal-meeting streaks, your personal best days, and so forth. You can miss out on a good amount of motivation if you only log activity when absolutely necessary.

We mentioned the Jawbone Up’s jack, which has to physically interface with the phone to sync. This is cumbersome, as it requires physically removing the bracelet from your wrist, popping off an easily lost piece, and plugging it into your phone for a few seconds (Jawbone recommends doing this twice a day). Despite all the physical steps, we found this slightly less annoying than flipping Bluetooth on and off for the Fuelband to conserve battery, but neither are really optimal.

The Fitbit Flex, like other Fitbit devices, syncs wirelessly with a dongle plugged into your computer any time the two of them cross paths. This is delightfully hands-off, even if it requires your computer to be on and alert all the time to receive your updates. Your Fitbit account then e-mails you with updates on your progress for the day.

The potential annoyance here is that you can’t get updates to your progress when you’re out and away from your computer. But the passive logging is great for all the days that follow the first few, after the initial excitement has worn off and you end up going a day or five without updating your account.

There is a Fitbit mobile app, too, but it's not set up to interface with the app by default—out of the box, information goes from wristband to dongle to Web to app, and there are no shortcuts in between. With a few interface switch flips, you can turn on Bluetooth syncing via the app so that you can drop in to see your progress at will (though the app is not able to access the Bluetooth chips of all phones, even if they are Bluetooth 4).

You can view your historical progress and do things like enter activities or log food consumed for the day within the Fitbit app, but it is not laid out the best it could be. For example, you can see how many hours of sleep you logged in the main interface, but to see your wakeup/sleep-time spread, you have to burrow into the More menu and then select sleep. By contrast, the two types of information are presented together in the Web interface.

The food logging interface for the Fitbit Flex...

The food logging interface for the Fitbit Flex...

....and the food-logging interface for the Jawbone Up.

Both the Fuelband and Fitbit both have Web interfaces where you can analyze your progress. For the Jawbone Up, everything, including analysis, is contained within the app.

As for battery life, the Fuelband and Jawbone Up claim to last around 10 days between charges. We found these figures to be accurate in our testing. The Fitbit Flex claims to last 6-7 days on a single charge, which we also found to be accurate.

I was usually able to charge the devices while sitting at my desk working, as each of them took only an hour or so to fill up again. The Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up both come with extra dongles that interface with USB (a proprietary docking port for the Flex, and a 3.5 mm-to-USB converter for the Up). The Fuelband plugs directly into a USB port, but because it’s a loose fit and lacks the external USB structure, we couldn’t get it to hang right and charge from every USB port we tried. Most, including wall chargers, worked fine.

Can someone please enlighten me on what the point of these device is ?

It's not as if they could give you an accurate (or even a not too inaccurate WAG) about the level of calories you spend per day. And even if they could, it's not as if you could count the exact amount of calories you take in.

This means that, in any attempt to control your weight, energy levels and body shape, you have to do it the good old way anyway: trial and error, corrected by what is known about nutrition.

Or is it something that is used for motivating sedentary folks into moving more ?

After having used the Fuelband for several weeks, I’ve developed a Pavlovian fear of its clasp. On more than one occasion, I caught my tender wrist skin while trying to snap it closed. Once I even drew blood. I fight this battle with the Fuelband every time I take a shower—Nike states that the Fuelband is fine with shower-level water exposure, but I’m wary of risking a $149 device in a daily water onslaught—so I suffer.

I've used my Fuelband for almost a year and a half, and have never had an issue with it pinching me. Showering with it daily doesn't seem to affect it in any way. I run 25 miles per week, so I feel pretty confident that sweat doesn't affect it either. However, I will say that the clasp seems to not hold as well as it did originally. I can pop it loose pretty easily now by banging it on my desk or while wrestling with my dog.

Personal preferences aside, these devices are not where they need to be just yet (but, hey, they gotta start somewhere, right?) I bought the Fuelband because I'm a technology geek and wanted to see what the fuss is about. I keep using it because it is a decent minimalist watch. I have a general idea that if it shows me I've got X amount of Fuel points that I've gotten some pretty good exercise for that day. Over time these devices will continue to improve, but for a version 1.0 product none of them seem bad. Just could be better.

Had (and loved) a Fitbit One for about three months that unfortunately made a bid for freedom on the Tube. I've not got the funds to replace it just at the moment.

I bought the One because of the extra stair counter over the Flex as we have a fair number of stairs in the office and that makes a decent contribution to my exercise.

What you haven't mentioned is that the Fitbit assumes a "base load" calorie usage which I don't think the others do i.e. if you leave it on your desk all day, it will record some calories burned.

What I want is a cross between the One and the Flex, but with the sleep tracking of the Up. Get to it.

@Fulgan in the time I was using my Fitbit it highlighted that my Calorie intake was substantially below my usage - not enough to affect my weight, but enough to result in (at the time) unidentified tiredness. Upped my Calories to match closer what it said I was using and that alone made me feel a lot healthier.

After spending a considerable amount of time reviewing a ton of these devices I came to the conclusion that this is a market that has tremendous potential, but the hardware and software (algorithms) are still underbaked. I'm going to give it another 2 years. A few more sensors and better determination of when you are actually walking will make these killer devices IMHO.

Knowing how many calories walking to your car burns, how many hours you sleep, or a heart rate average is not going to help you lose weight.

Gotta love arrogant pricks who probably are fitness nuts looking down on everyone else. Guess what. If you weren't aware of this the key to weight loss IS more average everyday activities. Adding an extra 5,000-10,000 steps in your day will help shave off calories you ate at lunch....which in turn will.....[I'll wait for you to catch up]......loose weight. These tools are there to help you manage your average daily activity. If you change your lifestyle by what you do on a daily basis you can loose weight. Its not always about working out for 2 hours each day. That is a valid option, but there are other ways of accomplishing weight loss as well.

Heh. Gotta love people. We'll do anything to avoid the truth that's staring is straight in the face. We'll invent all sorts of nifty gadgets to give us all the information that tells us what we already know: you eat too much, you work out too little, and you're fat.

I'm not going to quote you're whole post but I want to directly address what you said here.

I know I'm fat. I had sinus surgery and was not allowed to go to the gym for 2 months. During that time I was on a cocktail of anti-biotics and heavy steroids. I put on a shit ton of weight. And I wasn't a skinny kid to begin with. So yup. I'm a fat bastard.

I've always gone to the gym and worked out but never with any real goal or plan in mind. But lately, in order to shed this excess fat I've begun a more strict fitness regimen. I track what foods I eat, I track what quantity of foods I eat, I track my workouts and the calories burned. I do all of it, knowing it's not scientifically precise but it helps. I can look at my day yesterday and realize that the wad of candy I ate contributed directly to a couple hundred more calories than I needed and a fuckload more grams of sugar than I should have. Knowing I was a fat kid I spent extra time at the gym as a penance.

So why am I looking at a fitness gizmo? Will it magically make me skinny? No. Do I think it might enhance the regimen I'm on? Yes. Sure, if I just slap it on and then walk over to the burger joint and get me a tripple bacon cheese burger with a giant side of fries and a huge milkshake it won't do shit. But if I continue to eat healthy, track my calories, and use this doohickie to help drive me it can't possibly hurt.

It's not that I'm some dumb fat gob who's looking for an easy button. It's that I'm a fat gob who's willing to look at all of the tools available to me so I can become less of me. I know that going forward I will need motivation. The first 10 pounds was simple. Eat less, sweat more and *poof* But the next 15... and then the 15 after that? Those won't be as easy. But what after? Once I've lost those pounds I still need to maintain. And tools that can help me accomplish that goal are not bad things.

Heh. Gotta love people. We'll do anything to avoid the truth that's staring is straight in the face.

Knowing how many calories walking to your car burns, how many hours you sleep, or a heart rate average is not going to help you lose weight.

Wow, what's up with all the bitterness? Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, some people are actually different than you? I mean, you make some valid points, but when you make them with venom dripping from your lips, it's hard to take what was said seriously.

I've been using a Fitbit One for about 3 weeks now, and I enjoy seeing the information logged and how my diet/exercise fluctuate from time to time. Is it going to turn me into a super athlete? Of course not, I'm already in good shape, and I watch my diet and macronutrient intake pretty closely.

BUT, that's me. I know what I'm doing, and I know how to change my regimen to get the results I want. For people who have NO IDEA what to do, it's a very good place to start! In todays age of TV, internet, fast food, sedentary lifestyle, etc. etc., there are a whole lot of people with absolutely zero knowledge of what to do or where to start. If a small electronic device and an online account can add a little motivation, or spark interest in health where there was none before, I'd say it's a good start.

Can someone please enlighten me on what the point of these device is ?

[...]

Or is it something that is used for motivating sedentary folks into moving more ?

You got it. Basically, if you wear one for a week or two and don't do any exercise, you can figure out your "activity level" for a non-exercise day, and then feel guilty if you are not able to break that. The whole point to creating goals and streaks is to get you moving, and having something around your wrist nags you into doing that. Maybe you'll take the stairs the 2 flights up instead of the elevator? Maybe you'll get off the subway 1 stop early and walk. Maybe when it's raining out and you don't want to go, the "nag" will remind you that you have a streak going and you'll get off your ass and go for that run.

Gotta love arrogant pricks who probably are fitness nuts looking down on everyone else. Guess what. If you weren't aware of this the key to weight loss IS more average everyday activities

I'm afraid you're wrong. Not entirely, mind you: increasing your everyday activity do have a positive impact on general health - including weight control - but the main element to losing weight is controlling your intake.

Consider: if I spend 60 minutes in circuit training, I'm going to use about 655 calories. This is in no way a trivial amount but it's also about what you're going to get from a single big mac.

Factual quibble: The Fitbit Flex can sync directly to any phone with Bluetooth 4, so you can get updates while out and about during the day.

Also of note, rotating the phone while in sleep or activity mode will pop up nice detailed views of sleep and activities (and if you have rotation lock on, tapping on the graph has the same effect). from there dragging your finger on the graphic will highlight your resetless, sleep and awake times.

the fitbit app added "restless" tracking to sleep about a month ago (giving more than just awake/asleep)

Edit: Also, you noted the sleep log in fitbit on page 3, that is just the main info screen, tap More and you can click Sleep to get the actual sleep logging screen - which gives you all your details. You can tweak which icons are in the bottom row - for me i have Fitbit, sleep, friends, weight.

I bought a Flex for my wife's birthday. She loves it. It's light and easy to use.

Sure, it isn't a completely accurate device, but it encourages her to be more active rather than idle. She'll park at the back of a parking lot or take stairs rather than elevators. She enjoys setting a step goal daily and then achieving it, and she's mindful of her sleep patterns as well.

Her strap recently cracked where the Flex fits into the strap, which is disappointing. The Flex still stays in place, but it's annoying nonetheless.

There are unofficial apps on the Windows Phone Store for both the FitBit Flex and the Nike Fuelband. Plus, if you have the official Nike+ Kinect app, it will show you your Nike Fuel (though it's nothing but a reporting app).

Knowing how many calories walking to your car burns, how many hours you sleep, or a heart rate average is not going to help you lose weight.

Gotta love arrogant pricks who probably are fitness nuts looking down on everyone else. Guess what. If you weren't aware of this the key to weight loss IS more average everyday activities. Adding an extra 5,000-10,000 steps in your day will help shave off calories you ate at lunch....which in turn will.....[I'll wait for you to catch up]......loose weight. These tools are there to help you manage your average daily activity. If you change your lifestyle by what you do on a daily basis you can loose weight. Its not always about working out for 2 hours each day. That is a valid option, but there are other ways of accomplishing weight loss as well.

Couldn't agree more. In April, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure—potentially stroke-inducing high. I was also 60 lbs above what is considered "normal" for my height. I started a blood pressure medicine, started logging my calorie intake almost religiously, and bought a Fitbit Flex. As a result of getting off my sedentary ass (~50K steps/week), and carefully monitoring my calories, I've already lost 22 lbs since April 18. I expect to be down another 20 by Christmas.

Did the Flex make this possible? Indirectly, by providing near-immediate feedback on my exercise, it did. Could I have done this without the Flex? I'd like to think so. But for $99, the reinforcement has been well worth it.

My wife got both of us Fitbit Ones about a month ago. It's been a real boon to our activity level. With fitbit you can compare your activity with other users so my wife and I are always in a step competition (she typically wins). If you pay them a monthly fee you get access to more data and can compare against the general fitbit population. This rivalry has probably added 5-7k steps per day for me since I'm a programmer and spend most of the day sitting.

Small correction:The review mentions you cannot see your sleep histogram from the app. This is not actually true. To see the histogram go specifically to the sleep category, then turn your phone on it's side. The histogram will now appear.

Also you can edit your sleep details if you logged it incorrectly. On the app go to the sleep category then long press the sleep info (slept x hours...) this will let you edit your start/stop time. Also you can go to the website and go to Log->Sleep->mouse over the histogram window and an edit button will appear in the upper right.

Wow, what's up with all the bitterness? Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, some people are actually different than you? I mean, you make some valid points, but when you make them with venom dripping from your lips, it's hard to take what was said seriously.

I agree with your about the tone, but the truth is that, once you dig a bit on the subject, you realize than, for a majority of people, the problem is not really finding something that works but it's getting them to do it.

I've lived the same story many times: when people talk with me about their weight, they ask me what they should do (I'm one of these "fitness freaks"). The answer is pretty much always the same: stop with the junk food/drink, exercise at least 3 times a week, make sure you have a balanced diet and make sure you keep it that way for the long haul (i.e. that usually means designing a diet that you can actually enjoy and making sure you're giving yourself enough elbow room for enjoying your meals and socializing).

It's not very hard but, strangely, most people can't do it. I have no idea why but, if these toys can get them motivated (or even a few of them), then that means they are useful for some people.

I agree with your about the tone, but the truth is that, once you dig a bit on the subject, you realize than, for a majority of people, the problem is not really finding something that works but it's getting them to do it

And, what, exactly do you think people are trying to do by wearing the fitness bands? ENCOURAGE THEMSELVES TO WORK OUT MORE.

No review of the Basis? Can you maybe do one later, pwease? For sleep logging (and most other types of logging), I'd imagine that the Basis can hold its own, considering it's got a shit ton of sensors.

I would have bought one several months ago if they'd only integrate a vibrating alarm at the optimal wakeup time like a few of the other brands offer.

Gotta love arrogant pricks who probably are fitness nuts looking down on everyone else. Guess what. If you weren't aware of this the key to weight loss IS more average everyday activities

I'm afraid you're wrong. Not entirely, mind you: increasing your everyday activity do have a positive impact on general health - including weight control - but the main element to losing weight is controlling your intake.

Consider: if I spend 60 minutes in circuit training, I'm going to use about 655 calories. This is in no way a trivial amount but it's also about what you're going to get from a single big mac.

Never said intake wasn't a factor. I didn't address that. Intake IS a valid part of the equation. But getting off your butt is as well. The point I was trying to make is if a tool makes you aware that you need to do more. How is this not valid? If something tells me I've only done 5K steps today it's telling me after work I'm going to need to go out and do some power walking to get that up to 30K.

are they any more or less accurate than a $1 pedometer? seems like an expensive gimmick that needs to be price justified. I can see the sleep thing, if being accurate would be pretty awesome but the rest to me is just a massively expensive meh.

Do any of these products have a heart rate monitor function? I am more interested in just learning how my HR fluctuates over the course of the day on the fly and logging it versus having to stop and consciously take my pulse repeatedly. All the other monitors I've seen appear pretty obtrusive, so I had high hopes when I first saw these products.

For what it's worth, I reached out to both HTC and Fitbit when I was reviewing the Flex, and they indicated that they were working together to bring BT4 support, but it sounds a bit complicated to get it implemented. My gut tells me it shouldn't be, but they in theory know more than I do.

I agree with your about the tone, but the truth is that, once you dig a bit on the subject, you realize than, for a majority of people, the problem is not really finding something that works but it's getting them to do it

And, what, exactly do you think people are trying to do by wearing the fitness bands? ENCOURAGE THEMSELVES TO WORK OUT MORE.

Good Lord, pompous SOBs everywhere.

Defensive much? He said pretty clearly right at the end of his post, "... if these toys can get them motivated (or even a few of them), then that means they are useful for some people."

I needed a trainer to get me motivated enough to get fit, but if others can get the same results out of one of these devices, more power to them. It's certainly cheaper than a good trainer!

Casey, I just wanted to thank you for such a well written article. Despite what some nay-sayers have spouted off with, some of us do see the value in these. (Motivation and monitoring of what we're already doing.)

As someone who'd been looking at them and unable to decide you did help direct me towards one over the others. Well written review, well stated thoughts and opinions. You should get a raise.

(Note: I said that last bit to appease your millennial needs for recognition and praise.)

Can someone please enlighten me on what the point of these device is ?

It's not as if they could give you an accurate (or even a not too inaccurate WAG) about the level of calories you spend per day. And even if they could, it's not as if you could count the exact amount of calories you take in.

This means that, in any attempt to control your weight, energy levels and body shape, you have to do it the good old way anyway: trial and error, corrected by what is known about nutrition.

Or is it something that is used for motivating sedentary folks into moving more ?

while it's certainly not an accurate representation of your activity, these bands can provide a relative metric for gauging one's activity from a day to day basis, and that's enough to boost motivation and interest in maintaining a regimen

No, you saif that it was the key. It's not. It's important (for more reasons than just weight control) but it's not the key.

Quote:

Intake IS a valid part of the equation. But getting off your butt is as well. The point I was trying to make is if a tool makes you aware that you need to do more. How is this not valid? If something tells me I've only done 5K steps today it's telling me after work I'm going to need to go out and do some power walking to get that up to 30K.

I'm not saying the tool isn't valid (in fact, I just said it was a good tool if it works for you, a few comments up).

My main point is that it's not going to be a magic bullet (there IS no magic bullet): finding a way to lose weight usually isn't the hard part. What's hard (for some, at least) is getting the necessary motivation to do what needs to be done. And once again, if these toys helps some people get the motivation they need, that's just great.